Karasuno Daycare
by karasuno-libero
Summary: A daycare AU. A single father, Kageyama has to send his son to a daycare as he goes to work. Join the adventures in the daycare run by Hinata with other kids and caregivers.
1. Chapter 1

"Be careful, okay?" Shoyo Hinata said cautiously to his crippled sister, Natsu as he tried to hold her arm to walk towards the toilet. She was already used to walking with crutches so this was a challenge for her, walking without any help of the tool. Natsu took a step at a time, trying not to trigger any fall. Her face displayed determination, dotted with sweat as she tried to take on the challenge. With the aid of her brother, she managed to reach the toilet within a few minutes.

"Yay! This is a new record!" They cheered and they slapped their palms together. They walked back to the living room again and just then they heard a beeping truck outside their home. The truck was loaded with some furniture. Incomprehensible words exited the driver's mouth. He was replied with more incomprehensible words.

"Daddy! Are we going to stay here? I don't feel safe." A boy said worriedly and puffed his cheeks.

"Yes, we are going to stay here. Don't worry. While I go to work, I can drop you off at a daycare. You remember Uncle Sugawara? He said there's a daycare somewhere nearby." His father replied.

Hinata caught sight of a tall man in his late 20s with neat crow black hair, slanted eyes and a boy with tousled hazel coloured hair. They must be the new neighbours. The boy was holding a plushie that looked like a rather deformed cartoon alien. Huge black eyes with white dots as pupils, bridge-less nose with only two holes as nostrils and the body was smaller than the head.

Hinata, being an extrovert, took a lemon flavoured lollipop from a can that was filled with variety of sweets and walked out his home to greet them. "I will be right back, Natsu!" He said to his sister.

He looked at the little boy for a moment before gesturing to him to come nearer as his father was chatting with the driver.

"What's your name, little boy?" Hinata asked, kneeling down in front of him.

"Daddy told me to not to talk to strangers."

"How cautious. You see, I am your new neighbour and I live next door! I'm Shoyo Hinata." He held up the lollipop and offered it to the little boy.

His eyes brightened up and took it from Hinata's hands. He peeled off the wrapping and popped it into his mouth. "My name is Tooru. Kageyama Tooru."

"Aww, how adorable!" Hinata cooed at Tooru.

Hinata was blurred from his focus for a few seconds before realising that Tooru's father hit him in the head.

"What the hell are you doing with my kid? Are you trying to kidnap my son? Get lost you dumbass!" Kageyama barked, shielding Tooru from the short stranger. He snatched the lollipop in his son's hand and tossed it away in disgust. Tooru crossed his arms and pouted, about to cry.

Hinata fumbled to his feet and looked at Kageyama. "Excuse me! I'm not kidnapping your son! I was only offering him a lollipop. My sister and I lived next door and we noticed your truck outside!"

Kageyama's eyebrows brought together bitterly and barked back. "And why do you think we should believe your words?!"

"We literally lived here," Hinata pointed at his house as Natsu walked slowly towards him with a pair of crutches.

"Are you okay, big brother? I saw you tottered just now." Natsu looked at her brother confused and turned to gaze at the enraged man.

"I'm fine. Let's go, Natsu." Hinata turned and walked back to his house, pulling Natsu along by her arm. He kept an indifferent face and tried to hide his crossed feeling.

Kageyama huffed at Hinata and continued to chat with the truck driver.

"Let's go, Tooru. We will move the furniture about." Kageyama signaled his son to come. Little Tooru furrowed his eyebrows and started to stomp his foot on the ground.

"No! I want to play with Hinata!" He wailed. "Why did you chase him away?! He's not a bad guy, you... you..." Tooru paused to look for a right word. "... judgmental person?"

Kageyama rolled his eyes at Tooru and said, "No, Tooru. You can't play with him. He cannot be trusted. He might take you away from me. Who knows? I don't want to lose you, Tooru. Mom has left us for another man and I know we are unhappy with that but let's face it: you cannot leave my side. I cannot live without you." His eyes were glassy at a glance.

 _"Tobio-kun, I-I have something to say." A woman stuttered._

 _"What is it?" Kageyama lifted his gaze from the newspaper he was reading at the moment._

 _"I have been cheating on you for the past few years. I couldn't keep this secret anymore. It hurts me every day seeing you loving me yet I'm hurting you indirectly. This isn't fair. But, I don't love you anymore. I just couldn't bring myself to tell you." She blurted out her heart's content, tears streaming from her chestnut coloured eyes._

 _Kageyama was appalled by the news. His wife? Cheating on him? FOR YEARS? Introduced by friends from the same college, dated since they were 18, made love at times, cuddled when bored, married when they graduated, had a honeymoon at Osaka. Where did it go wrong? They had such a good life together, they had little Tooru a few years later. So what made his wife turned back from her so-called mistake?_

 _"When did you start cheating on me?" He whispered. His voice barely came out, still stunned by the news._

 _"A year after we got married." She shifted her gaze to the floor instead, avoiding looking Kageyama in his eyes._

 _"So... Tooru. Whose child is it?" He asked with his fists clenched into balls, ready to punch the wall if he receives unwanted answers. Silence. "Answer me!"_

 _"He's my lover's, Oikawa. But he doesn't know."_

 _Kageyama knelt down in dismay. His son, no, someone else's son, has been under their care for full 4 years and he did not know it. He was there in the labour when his wife gave birth to Tooru. Pain was pulsing through her nerves, contracting and expanding, pushing the baby through. She was sweating profusely and gripping tightly to his hands. An hour later, a sweet little baby was born. His hair was soft, his nose and eyes were identical to his mom's. He looked nothing suspicious, just an innocent newly born infant._

 _"I'm filing a divorce. I haven't sign the form yet. I'm just notifying you." She informed. "I'm going to leave once the divorce is done. However, I won't be taking any of your property. I won't take anything with me either except for my clothes and personal belongings. Everything else stays."_

 _They filled the petition form in silence. They paid the fees. They sent in the form. They filled in more forms. Everything came to an agreement and there we go: They are now divorced. However, the unfaithful woman decided not to take her child along but instead left him under Kageyama's care. He didn't like it at first, but agreed to take care of Oikawa's child. On the night before she left, Kageyama asked, "Why did you cheat on me?"_

 _"You were getting more distant day by day ever since we were married. You never noticed that. I felt like I have married the wrong person. You were never the same person I have met when we were still in the college. You buried yourself in your work. When you came home, you just eat your dinner and then go to sleep. If you are going to use stress as an excuse, I'm sorry but I have met someone much better than you. You never open up to me and kept your secrets bottled up. You have changed, Tobio-kun. I bid you farewell."_

 _Poor Tooru, he couldn't cope his life without his mother but eventually he understood the situation and just went along with the flow. He may seem to be too young to understand but he's intelligent enough to comprehend Kageyama's words._

Kageyama's phone vibrated, meaning he has just received a new message.

 **"About the daycare I told you about, good news! You just moved in NEXT TO IT. Wow. Such good luck! -Suga"**

His house was at the corner, the last of the street. _Shit. Does that mean that orange hair dude is running that place?_

 **"Oh, by the way. The guy managing it is called Shoyo Hinata. He's extremely friendly and awesome. -Suga"**

Shit. How could he make it up to the guy he just called a dumbass?


	2. Chapter 2

"Tooru, we are going to the Hinata's now." Kageyama announced to his son suddenly, putting down the newspaper after reading it.

"Yay! Can we play with him now?" Tooru's eyes brightened up with excitement when he heard his dad.

"Maybe. Let's go."

They walked to the house next door. It was somewhat noisy for a time like this. He peeked at his watch.

9.30 am.

He pressed the doorbell. A short man with a slightly wild look opened the door. His hair was spiked and there was bleached hair sprouted from the middle of his head. Wild. He wore a white shirt with Japanese idioms on it and a pair of blue jeans.

"Hello! I'm Nishinoya Yuu! What can I do for you? Come in, please." He said cheerily with a grin.

"I'm Kageyama Tobio and this is my son, Tooru. We just moved in next door yesterday and I am looking for a daycare to take care of Tooru." Kageyama explained as he walked in. He took off his shoes and wore the slippers provided. Tooru did the same.

Kageyama looked around. There were a lot of murals on the wall, mostly crows with human-like hair, which he thought was unusual for a place like this. The birds looked fluffy and cute. Tooru couldn't resist staring at them. There were colourful numbers and alphabets painted on the wall in different sizes. There were toys and stuffed animals, balls and storybooks on the floor. He picked up a ball that looked like a volleyball and instantly he felt nostalgic.

"Hinata! You got yourself a visitor today!" Nishinoya called out to Shoyo, who was in the kitchen preparing sandwiches for the little kids.

"Who is it?" Shoyo asked loudly, carrying a tray of food. He set it on the table in the living room and looked at the strangers.

"What the hell? What are you doing here?!" Hinata yelled at them. He gritted his teeth with fury. The kids stopped making noises and turned to look at him.

"Hinata, please calm down." Nishinoya tried to keep Hinata's composure.

"Hinata-kun, we are here to play!" Tooru hugged his legs. His heart softened a bit at the sight of the cute little boy. He smiled.

"I'm here to say sorry, actually. I was worried about Tooru so I acted before I could think." Kageyama scratched his head awkwardly and bowed rather suddenly but with sincerity.

It was silent in the daycare for a moment. Awkward.

"Okay, fine. Apology accepted. But what are you doing here in my daycare?" He resigned from his feelings and sighed. He handed the egg sandwiches to the kid one by one.

"Well, long story short, I need to find a daycare for Tooru and my friend recommend yours to me." Kageyama explained as he sat down.

"Who's your friend?" Hinata inquired, sitting down next to him.

"Sugawara Koshi."

"Ahh. He sends little Kei here everyday." A blond boy with glasses turned to look at them, eyeing them suspiciously and sticked his tongue out at Kageyama.

"Kei is here? I didn't notice him. He never really liked me that much."

"Oh, you know Kei? Wait, that's a stupid question to ask. You know Koshi, so you must have known Kei."

"How much do I have to pay for you to take care of my Tooru every month?"

"Only 10,000¥."

"Uhh, okay. Can I have sandwiches too?"

"Sure. Do you want some tea with that?"

"Yes, thank you."

Kageyama grab a sandwich for Tooru and another for himself but it seemed Tooru already started socialising with the kids there. He was showing his alien plushie to a quiet boy with black spiky hair and boring eyes. Another boy with onyx hair and freckles on his face was chatting with Kei. Two boys, one with coal hair and another with grey hair were playing with each other, lifting their action figures in the air. Hinata came back with two cups of warm senmaicha. He handed one to Kageyama and he accepted it. Kageyama examined the designs on the ceramic cups and thought they were admirable.

Nishinoya would stand by to watch the kids and occasionally play with them or chat with Natsu.

"Noya-san is my friend. He's very friendly and outgoing and he offered to help me when I first wanted to open a daycare. He was my senior back in high school and we would play volleyball together. We were in the team. I was a middle blocker and he was a libero." Hinata informed Kageyama.

"You, a middle blocker? Don't you joke with me. No offence but you are a shortie."

"None taken. I get that lots of times. But, I can jump!"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Kageyama sipped from his cup.

"So, don't you need to go to work?"

"I told my boss I will take a day off before officially go to work. You see, I'm not from this area. I was offered to work here so I took the chance and moved in here."

"Ahh, I see."

"So, these are the only kids you are taking care of?"

"Yeah, Ryuu is in the toilet now though. He has to shit."

"Ahh, I see."

Kageyama turned to look at Hinata. His orange hair made him looked attractive to him. He reached out his hands to ruffle that messy mop of hair. His fingers ran through the strands of hair slowly. Soft. Hinata looked at him, uncomfortable.

"What are you doing? Get your hands off me." Hinata shooed him away.

"Just ruffling you hair. I like it."

"You... like my hair? Or like ruffling my hair?"

"Both."

"That's the first. Everyone thought I'm a freak. Okay, maybe not everyone. But local people here are quite okay with it, I guess."

"They are wrong."

"I never cared that much, to be honest."

Hinata glanced at the wall clock that said 9:45. The wall clock was in a shape of a cat, a gift from his friend and a client. Its tail will sway left to right repeatedly with every ticks of seconds.

"Kageyama, we are going to take the kids to the park at 10. Do you want to follow us?" Hinata asked.

"Uhh, sure. I would like to see how do you guys work."

They sat in a comfortable silence and watched the kids played. They all enjoyed themselves. The table was laid with coloured papers and small scissors and glue and Nishinoya would produce something out of them. He's the master of art and craft. He would prepare craft supplies on the table before going to the park so when they get back they will start making craft. There's a display table where the kids put their work on it and each were labeled with names.

"Hinata, is she your sister?" Kageywama pointed at the teenage girl.

"Yes. Yes, she is. Her name is Natsu and I love her a lot."

Kageyama decided to keet quiet for the next few minutes, trying not to ask anything about his sister. He thought of his ex-wife at the moment. If he did not distant himself, he would be living happily with the family and that Tooru will be his real child and she will not be cheating on him. They will be doing family stuff like going to a shopping mall, watching fireworks at night, eating dinner. So many things that they can do they outnumbered the amount of fingers and toes combined.

 _Even in an oni's eyes, you'll find tears._

(A/N: I'm not feeling so well today, so you might find some grammar mistakes. Also, sorry for not writing longer. I have like 197 words more to go to reach the amount of words in the last chapter. Not to mention this note takes up like 48 words.)


	3. Chapter 3

The sky was bright, but not too bright to make people squint when they look up. Clouds overlapped each other, overshadowing the sun. The morning breeze felt comfortable as they took a stroll.

Kageyama silently watched his son laugh and chat with the other children. His finally saw his baby getting the courage to approach others. He probably strived for a new start like himself.  
A single tear escaped from his right eye. He sniffed, trying to regain composure.

"Um?" Hinata tilted his head and gave out a weird expression. Kageyama stayed quiet.

"Are you perhaps... ... the overly attached type of parent?" The orange haired caretaker cocked an eyebrow.

"What, no! I'm just relieved that Tooru has many friends now," Kageyama rubbed his eyes.

Hinata just hummed as a response. He averted his gaze towards the bushes nearby. He was trying to convince himself that Kageyama was not cute.

Do not stare at him. Do not stare at him. Do not-

"What are you staring at, dumbass?" His nose and cheeks were rosy.

"It's nothing, dumbass!" He huffed. He silently cursed at his pulse that wouldn't stop quickening. They walked side by side, Hinata whistling to fill in the awkward silence.

Moments later, they noticed that the children were all huddling around their  
other caretaker.

"Noya-niisan, can you buy us ice-cream?" Tooru pulled the hem of the said person's shirt.

"Yeah, Noya-nii pleaseee," the rest of them except Kei shouted in unison.

Nishinoya's eyes widen. He was adressed as 'Mr. Shorty' almost all the time. That was a first. The tittle 'niisan' made confetti shower in his heart. Suddenly he got the feeling that he saw halos above their heads.

"Oh my god of course! Nii-san will buy two ice-creams for each of you. Ice-cream man!"

"Noya, no! One is enough or they're going to get stomachaches," Hinata yelled from a distance.

Nishinoya regretted that decision. His brain spun from all the children chanting their desired flavours at different tempos tossed from different sources. The way the children pulled and clung to his limbs, begging for his attention to differ towards them first made the situation worse.

"Oh god this is getting really out of hand. Everyone's getting Gari-Gari-kun alright?" He raised his hands in the air, defeated.

"I'm getting strawberry though," a blonde voiced out while adjusting his glasses.

"...and Kei gets strawberry."

Everyone nodded in unison. The flavour doesn't matter anyway if they're getting ice-cream, especially during the daytime where the cool ice soothes dry throats (Kei loves strawberry too much to agree with that)

The rest of the day went on and Kageyama found out that Natsu was a very talented singer and guitar player, totally fit to be a music teacher. Nishinoya was not bad at teaching either, he had a really nice handwriting unlike Kageyama's worm like words.

Hinata was still a lousy person in his eyes, but he had to admit that he was totally capable of handling people.

It was time to go home and Tooru was the last child to leave due to his father. Kageyama wanted to stay a little longer to observe the parents of the other children. He found out that most of the parents were gay, and some single too.  
-

The sky had only one tone of grey, the hue that was not too dark yet not too light too. It was rather bright and clear. Droplets fell from the sky sedately.

Kageyama extended out a hand, feeling raindrops in his palm. A strong breeze pushed his hair back and forth, sending chills down his spine from exposing his bare neck to the chill temperature.

"It's drizzling a bit, so I'll go and get the car first. Tooru, wait here okay?" He took a step out of shelter.

It rained pitchforks and hammerheads.

He look up the sky, defeated. His fingers were balled into a fist.

"Hahahaha! Daddy got drenched as soon as he got out!" Juvenile cackling could be heard. The person beside Tooru joined his giggling fit.

"I wanna joiiinnn!"

Before he could react, he felt water wick away every bit of heat in him. The surprise from the sudden splash made him feel rather refreshed though.

"Tooru! What if you catch a cold?!" the first thing that hit him was that his son was under the rain, not protected by an umbrella.

"Heh, he's a very strong boy, and it's not like there's any lightning or thunder now. He will be fine," Hinata who was then also under the downpour voiced out.

Seeing his son already soaking wet, he sighed. "Okay, just this once."

"Alright then, who kicked water towards me?" A dangerous aura surrounded him. His gaze made the other two feel jeopardy.

He noticed that they had many pails outside to store rainwater to be used for cleaning. There was a few of them already overflowing the buckets. An idea sprouted.

"Take that!" He laughed.

"Hey! why am I the victim?!" The other man jolted up while waving his hands in the air, cold.

Kageyama just laughed louder in response. Hinata realized that he actually looked extremely charming when happy. The little hints of dimples. The sharp curve of his jawline. The muscular built of him that could be seen from having his clothes soaked with water. Those made him stare hard even though he knew he looked very obvious.

"Both of you look so silly~" Tooru grinned.

"Hey, how could you say thaat," Hinata chuckled and lifted him up.

The child's father observed that duo. They somehow looked good together. Kageyama realized that he actually looked extremely alluring when not that brash. The brightness of his teeth when he smiled. The way his hair lost it's fluffiness from having the rain push them down. The amber of his hair that still glows even when soaking wet. He had to change his attention to elsewhere as it would be improper to stare so long. Lies. He did not want to get attached.

"What are you doing? Join us!" Hinata pulled him by his hand, grip strong. He did show any intention of letting it go. His other hand was linked to Tooru. They just spun around in their tiny circle, sung children songs related to rain and had fun.

The more it rained, the more crazy they got together.

When it rains, it pours- figuratively and literally.

It was not a bad thing.


End file.
